April is daffodil time. When the bright flowers appear, appraise the varieties you have and look over the plantings of friends and neighbors for ideas on the new kinds to plant next fall.
Many brilliant ones have been put on the market in recent years. Be on the lookout for the short-cupped type, which comes in many bright color combinations.
Varieties with an orange cup and orange-red margins, while the perianth, the petal-like portion of the flower, is primrose-yellow. This is but one of the many short-cupped types that can be yours. For grace and balance, they are unequaled.
If your bulbs have not been lifted for several years, April is a good time to mark those to be dug up (when the foliage dies down) and replanted in fall in renewed ground.
If digging is not indicated this year, give the entire daffodil planting a top-dressing of manure or compost to which superphosphate has been added at 4 pounds per 100 square feet. This will keep the bulbs vigorous.
A dressing of a complete fertilizer at the same rate may be applied if the first-mentioned materials are not available to you.
Rose Care
Established roses need attention at this time. There are many methods of pruning, with advocates for each. Some gardeners get the best results by drastic pruning. Others do not prune at all. Then there are the middle-of-the-roaders.
Study your bushes before picking up your pruning shears. On healthy plants, it is a good pruning practice to remove the spindly growth that clutters the center of the plant. Cut out all injured or diseased portions.
After this has been done, and depending upon the age of the plant and the variety, this will leave several stems—some thick and vigorous and some light. The very vigorous ones may be cut back to a height of 18″ to 24″ inches.
The light stems may be cut back to 12″ inches. With most varieties of hybrid teas and floribundas, it is good insurance to cut one or two canes low.
This will force new stems at the base of the plant to replenish it with vigorous top growth.
Top-dress your rose planting as mentioned earlier, and if manure or compost is not available, use the alternative mixture suggested at 4 to 5 pounds per 100 square feet. Turn it into the soil about 2″ or 3″ inches with a fork but be careful not to disturb the roots of the roses.
Soil Preparation
Fortunate are the gardeners who finished pruning and cleaning up the grounds and now can turn all their attention to soil preparation.
Soil Preparation is the most important of all spring work as the year’s gardening success will be determined by how thoroughly it is done.
Dig your garden as soon as possible so the soil will have a chance to settle before planting.
During this month, most plants can be uncovered, except in the more northerly regions where hard frosts may still be experienced. Beds and borders should be cleaned of winter mulching materials and top-dressed with manure or compost.
In the event that these materials are not at your disposal, a good substitute is an application of a mixture of:
- 2 parts steamed bonemeal
- 5 parts dried or shredded cattle manure
- 3 parts superphosphate
Spread to cover the surface of the soil and then worked in. Later, as the plants begin to grow, apply 3 pounds of a complete fertilizer to 100 square feet of garden area.
Spring Care of Perennials
Now is a good time to renovate your perennial border. With the exception of peonies, Oriental poppies, columbine lupines, and iris, perennials can be lifted and divided.
Then, before replanting, humus or peat moss should be mixed into the soil in addition to the fertilizers mentioned above.
The old, woody inside portion of chrysanthemum clumps is discarded, and small vigorous divisions from the outside of the clump are saved for replanting.
Cushion types may be left alone for several years, but when dividing them, retain fairly large sections rather than making small divisions as with regular chrysanthemums. All chrysanthemums need good soil, fertilizer, and quantities of water throughout the summer.
Planting Procedures
All manner of plants, including shrubs, trees, fruit bushes, and strawberries, are set out this month. The earlier this is done, the better for the plants.
Mail-order plants should be unpacked as soon as they arrive. If you cannot plant them immediately, they must be heeled in a trench where the plants are set close together, either upright or at a 45° angle.
Cover the roots with soil and water them. Even though you heel them in, planting should be tended to as quickly as possible.
Plants that arrive packed in polyethylene plastic wrappers should not be removed from the wrappers until you are ready to plant them.
Planting holes for trees, shrubs, and evergreens should be at least twice as large as the spread of the roots. Poor soil, such as found in most new housing developments, is removed from the hole, and it is filled with topsoil.
If your soil is not too poor, or if you cannot obtain good topsoil, mix peat moss or humus with the soil you remove before refilling the planting holes. A half-and-half mixture of soil and peat moss or humus would not be overdoing it.
Find out from your nurserymen or from garden references whether the plants require acid or alkaline soil. Testing kits to determine the acidity of your soil are easy to use and obtain online.
While good soil is necessary to planting success, the way you plant is important too. You want to be sure the soil filled around the roots comes in close contact with them.
Light soils may be tamped around the plant with your foot. Be careful not to pack heavy clay soils so tightly that air and water cannot get down to the roots.
Coldframe
Depending upon how far north you live, the cold frame will either be just underway or will be well filled with seedlings or young plants. The hardiest of these, both vegetables and flowers, can, after hardening off, be set out in your garden.
The more tender plants must be transplanted and kept in the frame until the weather definitely warms.
As the hardier types are moved to the garden, the frame may be utilized with sowings of such annuals as cockscomb, petunias, lobelia, everlastings, verbenas, China asters, and dahlias. Some of these may be transplanted directly outdoors from the seed flats.
Other things to start now are tuberous begonias, early gladiolus, cucumbers, melons, and squash. Plant them in pots or plant bands that can be set in the garden without disturbing the roots.
Coldframe management at this season presents some problems. But if you understand them, you can run your cold-frame with great success.
Because the sun is warm during the day and because the nights are still cold, you must watch ventilation. Open the frame during the day, but as soon as the sun begins to wane, close it so that heat is trapped overnight.
Be safe and place a cover over the sash each night. Humidity builds up in the frame during the day inviting trouble if no ventilation is given. It is best to water before noon so the plants will have dry foliage before the sash is shut down in the afternoon.
FG0455-44696 by PJ McKenna